It’s December 30th. I’m in Tofino still and not doing much. I shouldn’t have stopped writing, but sometimes once I’ve hit a block it’s hard to tackle it again until I have fresh eyes. And just exactly when do my eyes refresh themselves? I don’t know. I won’t know until I sit down and re-absorb what I’ve already written. Sometimes new things will come right away, but sometimes I stare and stare. So it becomes a vicious cycle. Art isn’t hard to make; it’s the “getting yourself inspired enough to make it” part that’s hard.
This morning at the house there was a discussion about all kinds of writing – one being erotic fiction. Fifty Shades of Grey, obviously, was bound (no pun intended) to come up. One person argued that people in the BDSM community should take a chill pill because it’s just fiction. It’s a made-up story about people and relationships that don’t exist. And there are lots more worse depictions of relationships or misrepresentations of things in the present day media in general, so people shouldn’t take it so personally. Granted, there are lots of things that are wrongly portrayed in the media in our society, but that doesn’t mean we should let things slide because it was one misrepresentation. We can’t depend on people to educate themselves on the matter(s) that are addressed in the book (I haven’t read the book myself), and we can’t rely on the intended target audience to have an understanding of the kink community to know what is and what isn’t in the book.
Of course, I’m not saying that we should scrutinize every single piece of literature or film or what have you to come out on the mainstream media, but I’m also saying that we shouldn’t let things get away without throwing a bit of a fuss first. The discussion that follows is what’s important. Educate, learn. Take The L Word, for example. When it first aired it was praised for its lesbian content. Up until then, there hasn’t been a show where it revolved entirely on the lives of a group of lesbians. But it is also criticized for portraying a very specific group of people – namely, the rich and lavish lesbians of LA. It evidently does not speak to all people of colour or gender, and not everyone could relate to the issues that were presented in the show, but it at least shed light on a community that desperately needed some representation in the media. After the show was made, a great deal of web series with lesbian content popped up, so did more and more LGBT characters in mainstream TV shows. If it weren’t for the initial [controversial] material and the discussion that followed, there wouldn’t have been more and more representation.
Now, why is representation so important? Why do people get upset when their reality is misrepresented? Everyone is unique, and you can’t possibly present everyone’s reality equally, right? Right, but we can try our darned hardest to find the common thread that the majority of people connect with. People are always looking to be accepted, connected or to belong. It’s important that they feel they can identify with a character in your work so they can experience the journey together. Mostly, I believe there is a responsibility in the creator (writer, filmmaker, artist) to educate and stimulate their audiences. If the pen is indeed mightier than the sword, then with great power comes great responsibility.
Where's My Dime? 